Posts Tagged ‘Silverstone 6 Hours’

This past weekend’s 6 Hours of Silverstone was a fight to the chequered flag between Audi’s two LMP1 contenders. The No.2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Scotsman Allan McNish took the lead from the sister No.1 machine of 2012 world champion Benoit Treluyer with just five minutes of the race remaining, snatching the win for the trio of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Loïc Duval in the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The win also adds the names of Audi, McNish, Duval and Kristensen to the 108 year Tourist Trophy roll of honour.

Despite qualifying first and second on the grid, in the race the Toyotas of pole position Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre, and second place machine of Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi, lacked pace as the Audis marched ahead. At the flag the Audis led by a lap to the chasing Toyotas.

In the LMP1 Privateer category, Rebellion Racing’s Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost and Neel Jani in the No.12 Lola-Toyota took a dominant win from the sister Lola B12 of Andrea Belicchi, Mathias Beche and Congfu Cheng. In LMP2 victory went to Silverstone-based team Delta ADR, as Antonio Pizzonia took the chequered flag for himself and team-mates James Walker and Tor Graves with a one lap lead over the No.24 Oak Racing Oreca Nissan of Olivier Pla, David Heinemeier Hansson and Alex Brundle. Read the rest of this entry »

The FIA World Endurance Championship 2013 season kicks off this coming weekend with the 6 Hours of Silverstone.

The world championship event is set to be a festival of racing and entertainment for fans on and off the track, with an open paddock to spectators, and a free pit walk on Sunday morning.

Reigning champions, Audi, will be out to renew their LMP1 fight with rising stars Toyota, who shocked many with their speed in 2012. In LMP2, British teams Delta-ADR and Greaves Motorsport will be fighting it out with eight international contenders for the class honours.

Meanwhile, in the fan-favourite GTE class, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche will be going at it with cars from Aston Martin Racing, AF Corse and Proton Competition to name a few, all fighting for the top step of their class podium.

There’s just one week to go until the 6 Hours of Silverstone takes place on the 12-14 April. Winter testing is now completed and final preparations are underway, as the competitors taking to the grid for the opening round of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship have now been announced.

The international grid for the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Silverstone will feature 31 cars run by 21 teams representing 11 different countries, with 89 drivers taking part in the race representing 22 countries across six continents. Silverstone’s loyal fans will have their eyes on the British teams – Strakka Racing, Delta-ADR, Greaves Motorsport, Aston Martin Racing – and on the 15 British drivers racing across the four classes.

At the front of the grid the main focus will be on the renewal of the battle between LMP1 contenders Audi and Toyota. Audi start the 2013 season as Champions, but Toyota surprised many by taking the fight to Audi, genuinely outpacing them, and winning three of the six races they entered in 2012. This year they have two cars entered for the full season.

Audi know they will face some stiff competition as they fight to retain their manufacturer and driver crowns. Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer will defend their title in the No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, meanwhile Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen are joined by Loic Duval in the No.2 car. Anthony Davidson makes a welcome return to Toyota, and will be joined by Sebastien Buemi and Stephane Sarrazin in the No.8 Toyota TS030, while Nicolas Lapierre and Alex Wurz will resume the partnership that took them to third overall in the world championship in 2012. Read the rest of this entry »

A collection of teams and drivers ready to compete in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Silverstone headed to London for a photo call and media event today.

Positioned in front of London’s iconic Tower Bridge, Strakka Racing’s HPD-Honda LMP1, Aston Martin Racing’s Vantage V8 LMGTE and RAM Racing’s European Le Mans Series entered Ferrari 458 all gathered together to draw the focus of both locals and media photographers ahead of the event on April 14th.

Stéphane Sarrazin (Toyota), Darren Turner (Aston Martin Racing), Alex Brundle (Oak Racing), Nick Leventis, Jonny Kane and Danny Watts (Strakka Racing) and Tor Grave and John Martin (Delta-ADR) all posed for pictures with the cars and the famous Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy, which will be awarded to the winning drivers at this year’s 6 Hours of Silverstone.

From the photo call it was on to the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall, where the race winning Toyota TS030 Hybrid was on display, for a short presentation and further media opportunities.

The FIA World Endurance Championship has released the provisional entry list for the first round of the Championship, the 6 Hours of Silverstone on April 14. An additional three cars on top of the thirty-two full season entries have been announced, bringing the total number of cars at Silverstone to thirty-five.

“This entry list represents a lot of hard work by everyone involved, the teams, the drivers and the manufacturers.” said CEO of the FIA WEC, Gerard Neveu. “We are extremely pleased to have thirty-five cars for the opening race of the 2013 season at Silverstone on the 14 April, which will feature the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy for the first time.”

In LMP1, Swiss team, Rebellion Racing, have entered a second Lola-Toyota in the LMP1 privateers class, bringing the total entry in LMP1 up to seven. World Champions Audi have retained their two driver line-ups, with Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer defending their drivers’ title in the no.1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron Quattro, and Loic Duval has been announced as joining Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish in the no.2 Audi.

Audi took first and third places in Sunday’s round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the Six Hours of Silverstone. In the process the German manufacturer has been crowned the inaugural FIA World Endurance Manufacturer Champions

Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoit Tréluyer in the #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro followed up their victory earlier in the year at Le Mans with a win at Silverstone. However, they had to fight hard, and were pushed all the way to the chequered flag by the #7 Toyota Racing TS030 hybrid machine of Alex Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima and Nicolas Lapierre. The #2 Audi R18 Ultra of Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen was third after a slow puncture forced the team to make an unscheduled pitstop during the race.

One part of the winning Audi hybrid trio, Marcel Fassler, said: “It’s very satisfying to seal the Manufactuers’ Championship for Audi. Four races left and things can change again but for sure we’ve now had another step towards the goal we want to achieve at the end of the year. Let’s see how it goes – it would be nice to finish like that.”

Toyota’s Alex Wurz added: “To get second place is a great result. This is only our second race, eight months after our first roll-out and we are fighting against a competitor who has more than a decade of experience. We have to optimize everything to win but it is fantastic to motivate even more our team. We have shown a really good pace and demonstrated the performance of our hybrid technology.” Read the rest of this entry »

As part of the build-up to this weekend’s fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Silverstone (24 – 26 August), nine drivers, accompanied by three of the series’ race cars, headed for one of the Capital’s iconic landmarks, the London Eye, to mark the UK debut of the championship.

The photocall saw the current championship points leader, Allan McNish of Audi Sport Team Joest, father and son duo Martin Brundle and Alex Brundle of Greaves Motorsport, Anthony Davidson of Toyota Racing, Karun Chandhok for JRM, Aston Martin’s Darren Turner, and the all-British Strakka Racing line-up of Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jonny Kane, all gathered at the London Eye.

The drivers and cars attracted plenty of attention, as the general public were treated to a taste of the FIA WEC. In addition to the drivers, two Le Mans Prototype cars, the Honda HPD ARX 03a of Strakka Racing and Nissan Zytek Z11SN of Greaves Motorsport, plus an Aston Martin Racing GTE class Vantage V8 all lined up on the London Eye gangway.

While experiencing an unmatched view of London’s skyline from the glass capsules of the London Eye, the drivers shared their thoughts ahead of the upcoming race. Read the rest of this entry »